Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed “Fair Share Budget” revives a per-employee corporate head tax to help close an $882 million deficit, but the levy risks driving jobs and investment out of Chicago at the worst possible time. Aldermen should hold the line and demand revenue tools that do not punish hiring.
Architectural firm SOM has released striking renderings of a domed Chicago Bears stadium on the Bridgeport site the White Sox may vacate, but the concept raises urgent questions about public subsidies, community displacement and fiscal priorities. Chicago should insist that any stadium deal be overwhelmingly privately financed.
Mayoral candidate George Cardenas left the voting histories, home addresses and birth years of 1.5 million Chicago residents exposed on his campaign website through elementary security failures. The editorial board argues voters must seriously weigh a candidate’s operational competence when he seeks to govern Chicago’s vast data infrastructure.
The AMA and allied physician groups filed an amicus brief in Taylor v. Kennedy challenging CMS regulations implementing Medicaid work requirements enacted under H.R. 1. The editorial board argues that while administrative refinements are warranted, the core policy of expecting able-bodied adults to engage in productive activity is sound and should not be dismantled through litigation.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s ‘Fair Share Budget’ pairs a corporate tax expansion with significant new spending commitments, but Chicago’s City Council owes residents a rigorous, transparent debate about whether the revenue projections can sustain those obligations over the long term.
CPS reports an 83.4 percent four-year graduation rate and strong college enrollment figures, but without independent verification of proficiency rates and college remediation data, Chicago families cannot yet take the district’s celebrated gains fully at face value.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $17.6 billion Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal closes an $882.4 million deficit largely through new business taxes, but critics warn the approach risks driving employers out of a city already struggling to compete for growth.
The CTA’s new Safe Ride Specialist pilot deploys civilian clinicians and crisis workers across the rail system, but crime data suggest it is the agency’s 75 percent policing-hours increase — not civilian outreach — that is driving a significant drop in transit crime.
CME Group’s planned launch of tungsten futures contracts by early 2027 demonstrates that transparent, market-based price discovery can address critical mineral supply-chain risks more efficiently and durably than government subsidies alone.
Chicago’s expansion of early voting to all 50 wards and its new practice of publishing daily ballot totals mark a meaningful step toward the transparency and accessibility the city’s elections have long needed — and must now sustain through every phase of the count.